Brave rabbit cop Judy Hopps and her friend, the fox Nick Wilde, team up again to crack a new case, the most perilous and intricate of their careers. (from IMDb)

Sequels get such a bad name these days, but the fact of the matter is -- why not make them if they're going to be good? I always bought into the thought that successful television series' sometimes have hundreds of episodes. Why can't we have a couple movies in a series? Granted, studios tend to abuse the concept of sequels and often go for quantity over quality (I'm sure any given franchise pops into your head without me having to name any specifically), but some movies just work to keep making more of them. While 2016's Zootopia didn't exactly scream "sequel," it's a delightful enough animated feature that certainly has plenty of potential for follow-up stories. And finally, after 9 years (and a 2022 Disney Plus series), we have its first sequel, simply titled Zootopia 2 (or Zootropolis 2 if you're outside the U.S.).

Zootopia 2 begins one week after the end of the first film. Bunny cop Judy Hopps and her newly reformed fox partner, Nick Wilde, get in trouble for a bust that goes wrong, but it seems the two have legitimately stumbled onto a new mystery that - as they continue to look into it - only gets them further into trouble. The plot digs into the history of Zootopia, and explores the reptile species and where they fit into this animated animal world (since they've been absent up until this point). The story builds on the mythos of Zootopia as Judy and Nick meet new characters and risk their lives while looking into the case.

If you liked the first movie - especially the unique dynamic of Judy and Nick - you'll easily find Zootopia 2 a delight. It's more of the same, but in a good way, and doesn't quite feel like a retread, although a lot of the same DNA from the first one is here. The 2016 movie focused very much on Judy's journey to becoming the first bunny cop, and here, since she already is one, it gives most of the focus to her and Nick's relationship. Some of the classic buddy-cop tensions are here, but Zootopia 2 doesn't go too crazy with the bickering and such. They've clearly come a long way together after the events of the first movie, so the conflict they experience here is less about them trying to get along and more about their differences in how they do things. There's a ton of heart in the story involving their character arcs, and it makes the movie better for it.

With the Zootopia world adding reptiles, we're introduced to Gary De'Snake, voiced by Ke Huy Quan (of Temple of Doom and Goonies fame), and he's an excellent addition. Andy Samberg also voices a lynx named Pawbert Lynxley, while Patrick Warburton lends his voice to arguably his best animated character since Kronk, Mayor Winddancer. Almost everyone from the first movie also returns in some capacity, and it's done in a fun way (even if it does have that forced sequel-cameo feel at times).

In rewatching the first movie in preparation for seeing the new one, I was surprised by the "You can be anything you want to be" message that feels very modern in today's "you can't tell me who I am" society. In the first movie, Judy encourages a little fox dressed as an elephant that he can be whatever he wants when he grows up - even an elephant. And several times in the film, it's mentioned that you can be whatever you want to be in Zootopia. That message is softened this time around, but it's mentioned at least once. There's also a gag where a male sheep is getting the shape of muscular abs sheared into his sides when the barber is accidentally bumped and it causes a busty bikini top to be shaved out of his fur instead. The male sheep reacts in a pleased way and another male sheep exclaims something like "I'll have what he had!" Maybe that'd just be silly-funny years ago, but in today's social climate, it sounds like something entirely different.

The content, like the first movie, is quite PG, with some darker action mixed into the story. In the first film, it was the animals turning rabid and violent. In this one, it's some characters attempting to murder other characters. There are definitely some dark, tense - and emotional - moments. Regarding profanity, there's one "You suck!" and a single use each of "Oh my G-d" and "Oh G-d" (I think both were from Nick). There's a big, flashy music festival/celebration that's a spoof of Burning Man, called Burning Mammal, and we see some sensual dancing and mass partying, but it's mostly played for laughs. There is some violence, including attempted murdering of some characters, but the worst moment might be when an animal with sharp claws digs them into Nick's paw and then quickly rips them out. It's fast, and we only briefly see the deep scratch marks on Nick's paw, but it's surprisingly rough. Other moments show lizards that lose their tails, or gross out scenes like Judy and Nick being forced to eat live worms.

I think the main thing that held me back from liking this one quite as much as the first one was the pacing and editing. This one felt more frenetic in nature. While that's fine in many cases, it just felt like Zootopia 2 suffers a little from ADD at times. It sometimes feels like it's jumping around a bit from one visual gag to the next, and I think that may not be quite as necessary as the filmmakers feel it is. But I've noticed some animated sequels tend to do this -- and the later Madagascar sequels come to mind as good examples.

If you liked the first Zootopia, Zootopia 2 should be a satisfying sequel. It continues the story nicely without retreading the first one too much. And it also moves the characters forward without any major or drastic changes. The "you can be whatever you want to be" message is a little less in-your-face this time, but it's still there, so anyone fed up with the implications of that message may want to just skip this one.